There are laws to help deter that from happening. There is nothing that really deters a company such as Intel to get into Bitcoins and ruin the system. If Bill Gates didn't like Bitcoin, he wouldn't announce it and would likely do it through companies by giving them money to help bring about its downfall. I'm sure if Microsoft decided to go into Bitcoin, that news wouldn't be taken too well with the opensource community.

There is nothing that really deters a company such as Intel to get into Bitcoins and ruin the system.

Investors would greatly deter Intel from wasting money getting into Bitcoins. The company would lose billions, not only in research and development with manufacturing fees, but in market cap as their stock holders would sell everything for the knowledge that Intel clearly doesn't have a clue what they're doing. Since Intel probably does know what they're doing, they won't touch Bitcoin. You're stuck on a non-issue.

I'm just assuming that Microsoft is seen as a bad thing due to the fact that just about everything they put on the market it highly criticized. As for the Bill Gates reference I was more focusing on the money side of it than anything else so feel free to insert name of other billionaires there if you'd like. Relying on inaction when the action isn't deterred by the system is terrible protection.

MtGox is run by an idiot. I've been telling people that for years. When you trust your money to someone, is it that hard of a stretch to google some information about them and make sure they're not a complete dumbass? MtGox proves that the answer is "yes, it is too hard for me to look that up."

MtGox is run by an idiot. I've been telling people that for years. When you trust your money to someone, is it that hard of a stretch to google some information about them and make sure they're not a complete dumbass? MtGox proves that the answer is "yes, it is too hard for me to look that up."

Be that as it may, how do you steal bitcoins? Aren't they unique in that even if you copied the files you couldn't use it without being caught?

Be that as it may, how do you steal bitcoins? Aren't they unique in that even if you copied the files you couldn't use it without being caught?

Yes, they all have unique identifiers that can be tracked, but you can launder bitcoins just like cash. Run them through an anonymous exchange or tumbler and those coins are gone forever. Bitcoins are the cash of the internet, which has its positives and its negatives. MtGox's coins weren't stolen in one big batch, either. They've been leaking coins because, again, its run by an idiot who didn't know how to run a multi-million dollar business.